Now Trending: war in Gaza

Militants in the Gaza Strip continue to pound southern Israel with rocket fire, and Israel's leader vows to "take whatever action is necessary" to defend its people. The battle is being documented online as both sides use social media to detail operations, post video, and threaten one another.

This could mark the first time that official news of a war
operation has been divulged on Twitter before any other media. Early Wednesday
morning, Avital Leibovich, Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) international press
spokesperson took to Twitter to make an announcement.

Israel chose Twitter to make the first official announcement of
the air strike it says killed a leading Hamas official in Gaza, and the IDF’s Twitter account continued to post updates of the operation, even threats to
Hamas.

YouTube has since deleted some of the videos allegedly documenting this attack. There were also reports the official @IDFSpokesperson account was
suspended for 40 minutes Thursday morning because it violated Twitter’s rule
on posting “direct, specific threats of violence against others.”